Governor of all, or just some people?

George Mitchell's archive for his U.S. Senate papers at Bowdoin College features this quotation: "The essence of self-government is information." It wouldn't be too far a stretch to add this corollary: "And the essence of good government is communication."

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By Douglas Rooks

seacoastonline.com

By Douglas Rooks

Posted Jul. 13, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By Douglas Rooks

Posted Jul. 13, 2014 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

George Mitchell's archive for his U.S. Senate papers at Bowdoin College features this quotation: "The essence of self-government is information." It wouldn't be too far a stretch to add this corollary: "And the essence of good government is communication."

The notorious "failure to communicate" has had vast consequences throughout human history, most of them negative. Many scholars believe a tragic series of misunderstandings and miscommunications among the European powers was the largest factor leading to World War I, rather than the "cause" many textbooks still prefer, the assassination of an Austrian archduke by a Serbian nationalist.

Mitchell himself was to show how much work is required to reverse this kind of failure to communicate when he spent two years convincing warring Protestants and Catholics to sign a peace agreement in Northern Ireland — an agreement that, from the beginning, made perfect sense to anyone not a party to the conflict.

Communication with those one disagrees with isn't easy. It requires a commitment to listen, a willingness to entertain notions contrary to those one already holds and patience when tempers flare.

How far we are away from that in Maine was just underlined by Gov. Paul LePage, who wants to be re-elected without seriously considering the views of a majority of the citizens.

Considerable ink, air time and social media traffic has been expended over the eight meetings, consuming 16 hours of the governor's valuable time, with members of the Constitutional Coalition, whose views about the state and federal constitutions are, well, extraordinary.

Featured in the resulting debate were differing contentions about whether LePage's meetings included discussion of "treason" by House Speaker Mark Eves and Senate President Justin Alfond. The coalition got more than enough space to explain its views but provided no evidence to support its claim that government is somehow legally illegitimate.

"Just meeting with constituents" summed up the administration's line on the sessions, which apparently continued until the governor's staff insisted he knock it off.

Much less attention has been devoted to LePage's decision, once again, to cancel a meeting with legislative leaders without explanation.

When LePage was elected in 2010, he carried with him a Republican legislative majority. After two years in office, voters put Democrats back in charge of the House and Senate. LePage never seems to have accepted this decision, and expresses his dismay by avoiding even the most routine contact with lawmakers.

He has refused permission for his Cabinet to testify before legislative committees, and he's kept Alfond and Eves waiting for three months after the 2012 elections before meeting with them. Now he's back at it.

After telling reporters he was willing to discuss the Alexander report with lawmakers — the heavily plagiarized, $1 million document that told LePage what he wanted to hear about Medicaid expansion — he's repeatedly scheduled, then canceled, this meeting. It's now scheduled for Aug. 7, two months after it was formally requested.

The disproportion between the amount of time LePage is willing to spend with a few constituents who hold fanciful views about state government and with the actual leaders of that government, is striking.

It's never going to be easy to make "divided government" work, with Republicans and Democrats controlling the different branches of state and federal government. While the founders wanted to create checks and balances between the executive, legislative and judicial branches, they didn't anticipate the divisions between political parties that have periodically stalled meaningful action — never more so than at present.

Gridlock in Washington has focused on many issues, led by immigration reform. In Augusta, it's primarily implementation of the Affordable Care Act, where opponents' claims, led by LePage, extend far into the irrational.

No, it isn't easy to make government work, but if people aren't willing to talk, it becomes impossible.

Paul LePage set this pattern at the beginning of his term. A few days after he was inaugurated, he declined to respond to the traditional invitation to attend the NAACP's Martin Luther King Day observance. When reporters pressed him on the point, he gave them a message for the civil rights group: "Tell them to kiss my butt." To this day, he has refused to meet with the NAACP.

Serving as governor means talking with, and working with, a wide variety of people. In the heat of a re-election campaign, LePage seems to be regressing toward patterns of behavior even his strongest supporters probably hoped he'd put behind him.

Politics aside, government can only work if people are willing to communicate. By that standard, Maine's incumbent governor isn't providing much reason for hope.

Douglas Rooks is a former daily and weekly newspaper editor who has covered the State House for 29 years. He can be reached at drooks@tds.net.